A Bangor woman allegedly stuffed her duffel bag full of medical supplies while awaiting treatment at the Eastern Maine Medical Center emergency room Tuesday night.

Bangor police Officer Kevin MacLaren reported that at about 10 p.m. he was on duty at the ER when a nurse told him she found a patient in a storage area holding a few empty blood bags.

When the nurse asked Ashley Kimball, 20, what she was doing, Kimball put the bags down and said she was looking for a phone.

MacLaren said he asked Kimball if she took anything else. Kimball handed over four thermometers and several packages of lubricating jelly.

Officer Chad Foley came to relieve MacLaren and noticed a blue duffel bag in Kimball’s exam room. Kimball denied owning it. When MacLaren opened the bag, he found it was full of medical supplies including biological sample bags, splash gowns, sponges, various bandaging supplies and surgical masks.

The bag also contained a small calendar with Kimball’s name on it. She began to cry, MacLaren said, and explained that she was only trying to make a survival kit.

When MacLaren told Kimball he was going to charge her with theft, Kimball said she didn’t know it was stealing because she thought they were hospital supplies and that she could have them.

A nurse estimated the cost of the items at $150.

Brewer police are investigating two tire-slashing incidents that occurred Tuesday night.

Officer Rodney Gerald reported that a car on Penobscot Square had a tire slashed sometime Tuesday night. Two vehicles in an Oak Grove Drive driveway also had a total of four tires slashed.

It is possible that these incidents are unrelated, Gerald said.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball